


XXIII. everybody knows you only live a day, but it's brilliant anyway

by BubblyWashingMachine



Series: Every Little Hurt Counts [febuwhump 2021] [23]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Banter, Blood, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Childhood, Disillusionment, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Family Fluff, FebuWhump2021, Febuwhump, Gen, Murder, No Romance, POV Vanya Hargreeves, Pre-Canon, Protective Siblings, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love, Vanya Hargreeves Gets a Hug, Violence, Wholesome, febuwhumpday23, prompt is don't look, siblings being siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29654928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubblyWashingMachine/pseuds/BubblyWashingMachine
Summary: “Free day!” Klaus shrieks, banging on Vanya’s door, dragging her from her peaceful slumber, and she startles, rolling out of bed and landing on the floor. “Get up! He’s gone!” She hears his footsteps thumping down the hallway to Luther and Allison’s rooms.Vanya closes her eyes again. Maybe she can just go back to sleep here, on the floor. It’s not so bad.“Vanya, wake up!” Five appears in a flash. She pulls the blanket over her head. “Why,” he asks, hauling her up, “are you on the floor?”“Because I’m asleep,” Vanya groans, her eyes unwilling to open. “Leave me alone.”“No. Get dressed,” Five says sternly. “I’m not letting you waste our free day sleeping.”...Set when the Umbrella Academy are about thirteen. Reginald Hargreeves is away for business, which means his children have a whole day to spend how they choose. Board games, banister-sliding, and slumber parties are all on the table - but when the Academy is blown up and stormed by intruders, sheltered Vanya is forced to confront the violence of her siblings for the first time.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves & Number Six | Ben Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves & Everyone
Series: Every Little Hurt Counts [febuwhump 2021] [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137428
Comments: 15
Kudos: 99





	XXIII. everybody knows you only live a day, but it's brilliant anyway

**Author's Note:**

> full disclosure i procrastinated writing this until like, tonight, which means that this has all been written at like 11pm and yet?? I know I'm half asleep but I feel like this one is... really good. god I love the hargreeves children
> 
> this features violence (Ben using the horror) but is mostly about vanya witnessing the violence of the Academy first-hand for the first time and being like oh wait. maybe this sucks actually. ew.
> 
> um the vibe of this fic is the song independence day by elliott smith. i think. hence the title
> 
> good night, enjoy this softness

The days when Reginald Hargreeves leaves for business are always the _best_ days in the Umbrella Academy household. These phenomenal occasions are rare, occurring only once every few months, and thus are cherished by the Hargreeves children.

When their father had announced the previous evening that he would be absent for a day, the excitement in the room was palpable and badly-disguised. Finally – a free day.

“ _Free day!_ ” Klaus shrieks, banging on Vanya’s door, dragging her from her peaceful slumber, and she startles, rolling out of bed and landing on the floor _._ “Get up! He’s _gone!”_

And then she hears his footsteps thumping down the hallway to Luther and Allison’s rooms.

Vanya closes her eyes again. Maybe she can just go back to sleep here, on the floor. It’s not so bad.

“Vanya, wake up!”

Five’s feet, already with shoes on, appear in a flash directly in front of her face.

She pulls the blanket over her head.

“Why,” Five asks, hauling her up, “are you on the floor?”

“Because I’m asleep,” Vanya groans, her eyes unwilling to open. She tries to flop back down onto the bed, forcing him to take her entire weight to make her keep standing. “Leave me alone.”

“But it’s a free day,” he grunts, holding her up. “Don’t you wanna do something?”

She grumbles. “Like what? Go outside and watch you all play tag?”

“You don’t even _like_ tag.”

“How would I know? You guys never let me play.”

“Because _last_ time you played, Luther dislocated your shoulder.”

“Accidentally,” Vanya huffs, and he finally drops her onto the bed. She glares up at him.

“Get dressed,” he says sternly. “I’m not letting you waste our free day sleeping.”

And then he blinks away, leaving her alone.

Vanya yawns, rubs her eyes, and glances at her clock – six-twenty-two A.M. Sounds about right.

“I guess I’ll get dressed,” she says out loud to nobody, sighing.

…

The atmosphere at breakfast is charged with nervous energy. When the chair at the head of the table is empty and they are unsupervised, the children whisper to each other in hushed voices simply for the pleasure of being allowed to talk at the table – even if they’re _not_ , technically, allowed.

Vanya moves her food around on the plate sleepily, as the others chatter and giggle and trade gossip around her – Five kicks her ankle.

“Ow,” she says.

“Look alive, will you, Sev?” Five, unlike the others, barely bothers with the whispering. He’s the only one for whom speaking at the table is less of a novelty, due to his tendency to do it all the time and then be punished for it.

“I’m still mentally asleep,” she tells him. “Why are you so perky, anyway? It’s just a free day.”

Diego butts in, leaning across with food still in his mouth. “Maybe it’s _just_ a free day to you ‘cause you never _do_ anything anyway. We _never_ get to relax.”

“Just because I’m not training doesn’t mean I just get to chill out,” Vanya says, but she doesn’t quite say it loud enough and Diego is already bickering with Luther about something else.

Ben is looking at her sympathetically. She looks back down at her oatmeal and sulks. “Want to play board games with us later?” He offers.

“Sure,” she says. The only time board games come out is on free days.

“We should bake something!” Klaus says. “And have another banister sliding contest. I’ve been practicing – I can win this time.”

“That’s too dangerous,” Luther says, disapprovingly.

“Baking is boring,” Allison says, rolling her eyes. “I want to put on music so loud that our _neighbours_ will hear.”

Luther smiles. “That sounds fun.”

“Baking isn’t boring!” Diego says, pointing his spoon at her. “It’s a life skill.”

“Luther is banned from choosing the music,” Five says.

Allison looks at him. “Luther is the one who has all the music, idiot.”

“I said he’s not allowed to _choose_ the—”

“We should put it to a vote,” Ben says.

“Put what?” Klaus drops his spoon with a clatter. “Huh?”

“Everything. We can’t do _everything_ that everyone wants to do, so we should vote.”

“I bet we can,” Diego challenges.

Vanya stirs her oatmeal around some more.

“Or we could draw straws,” Luther says.

“What, so Allison can wait till everyone draws, swap with the one she wants and then rumour everyone to forget? No thanks.”

“I _knew_ I shouldn’t have told you about that.”

“Allison can just make _us_ want to play whatever _she_ wants to play _anyway_.”

“We should have a race!”

“Or an obstacle course,” Five suggests, grinning.

“No!”

“What about we just _vote_ ,” Ben stresses.

At this point the dining table has become more of a conference table, since everyone has stopped eating. Luther says, “All right. Which should we—”

“Banister sliding!” Klaus yells.

“ _Or_ board games,” Luther says, crossing his arms. “Everyone in favour of board games, raise your hand.”

He, Ben, and Diego raise their hands – Luther because it’s safe, Ben because he thinks they’re fun, and Diego because he gets insanely competitive.

Allison, Klaus, and Five keep their hands down – voting for banister sliding.

“It’s a tie,” Allison cries, exasperated. “One of you is going to have to—”

“ _Vanya_ didn’t vote yet,” Five snaps. “She’ll break the tie.”

Suddenly, six heads swing to face the other end of the table, and everyone is staring at Vanya.

“Um…”

“She’ll want the board games,” Diego announces. Ben looks at her hopefully.

Vanya squirms. “We’ll do both, right? This is just for which one goes first?”

“Just pick one,” Allison says irritably. Five grins, his confidence in her unwavering. She hates that he’s right.

“I vote for banister sliding,” she says quietly. Ben leans back and sighs. “Sorry.”

“If you guys break all your bones, that’s on you,” Luther says.

“Come _on_ , Number One, you need to lighten up,” Klaus whines. He pushes the chair back with a screech – Vanya flinches – and puts his hands in the air. “Last one to the top of the stairs is a rotten egg!”

Suddenly everyone is yelling and stumbling and running and Vanya is laughing, caught up in the swell. Someone grabs her wrist – Five is grinning at her.

“No, no—” she warns, gasping, and he simply laughs and drags her with him through a blue tunnel of light that shreds her up and spits her out at the top of the stairs.

“You’re _welcome_ ,” he says.

“Stop, doing, that,” she says, falling onto her back while the thundering of footsteps approaches steadily from below.

“What, don’t you want to win?” Five tilts his head and offers her a hand – she relents, and lets him pull her up.

Before she can say anything Diego staggers to the top step, out of breath. Allison shoves him from behind.

“No fucking fair,” Diego says, winded. “You always do that!”

“If you don’t want me to win,” Five says, “then don’t make it a race.”

“Whatever!” Allison says. “I’m going first.”

“Wait, someone has to be at the bottom, to count,” Ben says.

“Luther’s there,” she says, pointing behind her vaguely. “He’s staging a rebellion or something I guess.”

“You’re all idiots and you’re going to injure yourselves,” Luther calls, his voice floating up.

“Ah,” Klaus says. “The rotten egg.”

Allison hops up onto the banister gracefully, bracing herself. “Someone count down,” she demands.

“One,” Five says, “two… threefourFIVE!” And he shoves her down.

Allison flails, shrieking, as she rockets rapidly away from them and slides around the corner out of sight. “AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa……..”

Vanya clamps a hand over her mouth to smother her laughter, staring at Five in shock.

His expression is remarkably casual.

“Oh my God,” Ben says quietly.

There is the sound of someone crashing into someone else at incredible speed, and then two bodies hitting the floor.

“You murdered her,” Diego says, sounding slightly cross. “ _Five_. The fuck was that.”

“She’s fine,” Five says flippantly, and that moment comes the screeching voice of Allison.

“NUMBER FIVE, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!” She screams.

He seems unperturbed. “Who’s next?” He turns to Vanya, smirking. “Vanya? You want a go?”

“I’ll pass,” she says flatly.

Allison rounds the corner, stomping up the stairs, her face painted a dark red with fury. “I am going to rumour you so hard that you’ll think you’re a cockroach for a _month_ —”

Klaus cackles sharply at the sight of her expression, and if it weren’t for the fact that Vanya is mildly terrified of what her sister would do to her if she laughed out loud, Vanya might also be snickering. _It was kind of funny_ , she thinks.

An unimaginably loud explosion rocks the house, sending everyone stumbling.

Vanya latches onto the banister, her heart leaping.

“What the hell was that?” Diego whispers.

“Some kind of bomb?” the anger has drained from Allison’s face. “It came from the front room.”

“Someone’s trying to blow up the Academy?” Klaus puts his hands on his head. “Oh, shit!”

Luther comes bounding up the stairs, his face white. “Guys, the front door – it’s almost—”

Another explosion, even louder this time, making everyone lose their balance and hit the floor. Dust and pieces of wood fall from the ceiling.

Vanya hears, in the almost deafening silence following the blast, the sound of many footsteps slowly entering the mansion, creeping, presumably through whatever massive hole they just blew out of the wall.

“Intruders,” Diego says, almost whispering but not quite, the first to his feet. “Where’s Mom?”

“We can take them,” Five says darkly. He pulls Vanya up without even looking at her. “We need to stop them before they get what they came for.”

“Right,” Allison says, swallowing. “It’s just the same as a mission.”

“Except they’re in our house,” Ben whispers, terrified.

“Come on,” Five takes a step forward.

“We don’t even know how many there are,” Luther hisses, grabbing his arm. “We need to call Dad and get out of here.”

“We _need_ to find Mom,” Diego tells him, like it’s a challenge. “There could be ten, twenty, thirty people, we have no idea.”

Allison gestures. “Until someone _checks._ ”

“Vanya can tell us how many there are,” Five says suddenly, an idea lighting up his face. He whirls around, looking at her intently, and she freezes. “Can’t you?”

She chokes. “I – uh—”

“Listen,” he insists. “Come on. _Listen_.”

Vanya squeezes her eyes shut and tenses up, trying to block out the noise of everyone muttering. Knowing that they’re all watching does not make this any easier.

She breathes in deeply. She clenches her fists. She listens to the footsteps.

“One, two, three, four, five, six,” she says, “heading down the left hall. One, two, three, four, five, six going down the right. One standing watching in the entrance, and three heading our way.”

“Lucky Number Seven,” Five murmurs, pride in his voice, and she opens her eyes to see everyone gaping at her.

“She made that up,” Diego says.

“Vanya has great hearing,” Five says wickedly, grinning at her. She fidgets.

Luther clears his throat, still staring at Vanya, astounded. “Right, well—"

“They’re coming,” she reminds him. “Like, right now.”

“Oh, yes,” he says awkwardly, and turns around. “Uh, Allison, you’re with me. Rest of you split—”

The three guards come round the corner and jerk back in shock – Allison steps forward and says quickly, “ _I heard a rumour_ you all shot—”

Vanya doesn’t hear the rest, because Five tackles her and suddenly they are in the kitchen.

“Sorry,” he says distractedly. “First place I thought of.”

He starts ransacking the cupboards, stuffing whatever he can find into his mouth. Marshmallows, bread, shortbread biscuits, half an apple. He chokes it all down, and pockets the other half.

Vanya struggles for breath, leaning against the table. Her head is spinning – just a few minutes ago she was having the time of her life. “Why – we have to—”

“I need energy,” he says grimly. “I’m about to do a _lot_ of jumping.”

“What – what are you going to do?”

Five pauses. “We’re going to kill them, I guess.”

“But—”

“They came here,” he says, “they knew what they were getting into. You stay here, alright? I’ll come tell you when it’s safe. Thanks for doing your freaky hearing trick by the way. Very impressive.” He says this all in a rush, smiles, and then he is gone.

Vanya exhales, and looks at the floor. How could _everything_ have gone wrong so quickly?

She hears the gunshots and shouting from upstairs very clearly.

_Right,_ she thinks. _There’s no way I’m going to just sit here while my siblings fight armed intruders in our home._

A curious sort of determination and exhilaration fills her. A mission! She’s already proven that she can be useful. She’ll prove herself even more! She’s never killed someone, but – she could. For sure. Her siblings make it sound so easy.

And then… if she does an amazing job, maybe everyone will see that she _is_ special. Dad will have to believe them if they vouch for her – maybe she’ll be allowed on the team.

_Yes,_ Vanya thinks excitedly, clambering up the metal stairs from the kitchen that lead back up to where the action is, where people are fighting. She climbs them two at a time. _I’ll prove I can be—_

“ _Vanya!_ ” Ben screams, the sound ripping through her, “Don’t look!”

Vanya, at the top of the stairs, isn’t quick enough, and she can only freeze in surprise instead, her eyes open wide, hardly stopping herself from tumbling backwards.

Hot blood splashes across her face and chest, thick and red.

There was – a man there, two seconds ago, she thinks dully.

“Vanya,” Five says furiously, “I _told_ you to—”

Vanya looks down at the body – half a body, the top half – shredded apart on the ground in front of her. She screams.

“Oh, what _ever_ ,” Five snarls, and blinks out of sight.

The Horror whirls around the room, gunfire bursting out in bright, loud plumes, and then cutting off when the gunman gets torn apart in a splatter and gush of blood.

Vanya wails, putting her hands over her ears and sinking down onto the step, but unable to tear her gaze away from the awful scene.

There are three men left standing. Five appears behind one and slams a silver candelabra over his head. The man crumples, and Five takes a bite of his apple, looking exhausted, his hair dishevelled and sweaty. He shuts his eyes for a moment, scowls, and blinks away.

Ben’s tentacles wrap around another man’s leg. The intruder lets out a horrible yelp, his gun spitting bullets wildly in every direction, and then he is slammed up against the ceiling and then down onto the floor with a force so strong that he makes a sickening _crunching_ noise and lies still.

The last man is no longer fighting – he has backed away, limping, and thrown his gun down in clear surrender, gawping at Ben with a wild, terrified look in his eyes.

“Holy _fuck_ ,” he says in a scratchy voice. “No one told me you kids were the Umbrella—”

His words are cut off with a _crack_ when Five jumps directly in front of him and smashes a heavy glass paperweight down on the top of his head. The man’s jaw falls open, and he falls. When he hits the ground, his eyes remain wide and unseeing.

“Yikes,” Five says, heaving for air. He lets the paperweight fall and it hits the floor with a clunk. “Look at this _mess._ ”

The Horror retreats, slithering back inside Ben until it is just Vanya’s brother standing there unsteadily. “Yeah. Do you think we’ll be in trouble?”

“That’d be bullshit.” Five rubs a hand across his face. “Unless this was some kind of bloody test. I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Ben hums sadly.

Finally, he turns around and sees Vanya, his face falling.

“Oh, Seven,” he says, coming closer. She can’t move – that man’s blood is still sticky all over her. “You were supposed to stay in the kitchen, idiot.”

“I – wa-wanted – to _help_ ,” she says, unable to quite breathe right, and then she is crying, all the disgust and fear and discomfort bubbling over into tears that spill down her cheeks and cut lines through the blood drying on her cheeks. “B-but – the blood – I didn’t – I couldn’t—”

Five steps over the disembowelled torso on the ground and puts his arms around her rather awkwardly. “It’s fine. We dealt with it, didn’t we? Everything’s fine now.”

“I wasn’t scared,” she sobs. “I didn’t – know—”

“Hey,” Ben says gently, coming up beside her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “It was gross, right? I get it.”

“It was _really_ gross,” she sobs, feeling all wobbly. “I’ve never… seen anything that _disgusting_ in my life.”

Five drops his head onto the top of hers. “Yeah. That’s why you should have stayed downstairs,” he says tightly. “Like I _told_ you.”

Vanya shudders.

Suddenly she gasps and pushes them both away. “Oh, God, I’m _covered_ in it,” she wails, shivering. “There’s blood all over me, isn’t there?”

“Sorry,” Ben attempts lamely, with an edge of bitterness to his tone. “Welcome to the club.”

“Just don’t think about it.” Five shrugs, looking at her. “You can clean it later, yeah?”

“I want to clean it _now,_ ” she says, still crying. “I feel – horrible. How do you _do_ that?”

Frowning, Five tugs his hand back into his sleeve and holds her chin steady, scrubbing the cloth across her face roughly. “It’s almost dry already,” he mutters.

“We’re used to it,” Ben answers, putting his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry you had to see that, Vanya.”

“Me too,” Five says. “If you had just _stayed_ —”

“I know,” she says miserably. “I’m sorry.”

He lets out a sigh, glaring at her even as he tries to get all the blood off her. “ _Hmph_. Yeah. Next time, listen to me.”

_Next time,_ Vanya thinks, and feels completely sick. They do this all the time, don’t they? This is nothing out of the ordinary. She can see it on their faces – the only thing unusual about that fight is that she was there to witness it.

“There,” Five says, letting go of her and leaning back. “Better.”

“Thanks.”

“We should check on the others,” Ben says.

“Yeah.” Five looks at her. “Will you be—”

“I’ll be fine,” she says quickly. “You guys go. I’ll, um, wait. Or find Mom, or Pogo. Or something.”

“Okay,” Ben says cautiously, and then starts slowly making his way down the blood-slick stairs.

Vanya knows that Five is still looking at her. “What?”

“You’re upset,” he says. “Was it the violence?” When she doesn’t immediately answer, the words stuck in her throat, he hesitates, stiff. “Because you know we – Ben and me, we would never…”

“No,” she blurts, “no, _no_. That’s not—”

“It’s fine—”

“—I’ve just never really seen you in action that close up before; it was a bit of a shock.” She laughs nervously.

“You knew we kill people.”

“I knew that,” she says carefully, “in theory.” But to know something, and to have it violently written all over you are two different things.

Five nods, seeming to accept that answer. “Right.”

“So I guess the free day is cancelled.”

“Well…” They look around – the hallways is pretty decimated. “Might be hard to slide down the banister if there’s no banister left.”

“Diego will be pleased. We’ll have to play board games.”

He smiles. “Yeah, maybe.”

…

Later that evening, Vanya is sitting on the floor of Ben’s room, having thoroughly washed and scrubbed herself clean of all traces of the day’s violence. Her skin feels a little raw. Whenever she thinks about what she saw, she feels ill.

“Someone’s coming,” she notes, and Ben perks up. On free days, Mom lets the bedtime slide a little bit, so they can get away with some post-lights-out messing around as long as they don’t break anything and they’re all in their own rooms by the time the sun comes up and Dad gets home.

Considering the wrecked state of the house, Vanya wonders what he’ll think when he does arrive home to find a good portion of it missing.

Luther pushes the door open and shuffles inside, sitting down on the rug next to Vanya. “Hi,” he says sleepily.

Next in is Allison, who sits cross-legged beside him. Then Five, who sprawls out on Vanya’s other side, and finally Diego and Klaus come in and shut the door behind them, collapsing with Ben onto the bed. Each child drags their own pillow, or multiple pillows, and Diego is wrapped up in a blanket.

The room is quiet, and actually kind of cozy. Vanya feels like she is looking at her siblings in a new light, as cliché as she thinks that sounds.

“Who wants to play board games,” Diego mumbles half-heartedly, and everyone groans.

“I feel like my arms are gonna fall off,” Luther says.

“My stomach hurts,” Ben adds.

“One of those guys nearly knocked out my tooth,” Allison exclaims.

“I think I did something weird to my knee,” Diego says.

Five frowns. “I dunno why you’re all so beat up. _I’m_ fine.” Vanya snorts at that.

“My _whole body_ is in pain,” sighs Klaus.

“You didn’t even _do_ anything,” Diego says. “You hid in the cupboard the whole time.”

“Emotionally, I’m hurting.”

“Well, what about _Vanya_ ,” Ben says, flopping an arm over the side of the bed.

“What about her.”

“She’s traumatized.”

“I’m fine,” Vanya mumbles.

“You were like, catatonic.”

“Oh my God,” Allison says, sitting up suddenly. “What the hell was up with that bizarre hearing trick you did? You were spot on.”

Vanya shrugs. “I have good hearing.”

“Is that a violin thing?” Diego asks, sounding confused.

“Yes,” Five says. “All violinists gain the magic power of—”

“You’re such a smart-ass.”

“Maybe slightly-above-average hearing _is_ Vanya’s superpower,” Luther says thoughtfully, and then yawns. “Can we sleep in here? Like this?”

“We’ll get in trouble,” Ben warns, but he’s already tossing down extra blankets for everyone. They all scramble to arrange bedding, sleeping for the most part in one big pile like animals huddling for warmth, and Vanya is in the middle. Five doesn’t even complain when she puts her arm around him – he must still be worried about her mental health or whatever.

“I don’t care,” Klaus decides. “I’m above the law. We witnessed a massacre today; we deserve a slumber party.”

“We _committed_ ,” Allison says as she gets up and turns off the light, “the massacre.”

Five lets out a tired wheeze. “We have _established_ that Klaus did not _do_ anything.”

“Everyone be quiet now,” Luther murmurs, wrapping both his arms around Allison like she is a teddy bear, to which she smiles fondly. “Tired. _Sleep_.”

“Ugh. Killjoy,” Diego says without heat.

“Night, everyone,” Allison says. “Five, remind me to kick your ass tomorrow for shoving me today.”

“I was hoping you forgot about that,” Five says, his laugh tickling Vanya’s ear.

“Shush,” Luther says.

“ _Ugh_.”

“Happy free day, everyone,” Ben says after a second, very quietly.

Then there is just the sound of slow breathing.

Tomorrow, there will be hell to pay. Tomorrow, she will have to think about everything she saw and all her complicated feelings. Tomorrow…

Vanya falls asleep warm, surrounded and embraced by her family of killers, and she feels perhaps the safest she has ever felt.

**Author's Note:**

> like???? who are these people and why do they do this to me i'm so emotional rn
> 
> See you tomorrow for a fic that, if it goes according to my plan, will probably be exactly like this one except with no violence lmao
> 
> actually it is past midnight. so i will see you... later today. ugh


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